The government is facing critical decisions regarding new concessions of areas with potential natural gas deposits, making Chevron’s main area of interest as a priority.
One month after Greece’s positive response to the US company’s request to explore the “Southern Peloponnese” area, discussions between the two sides are reportedly focused on the maritime areas south of Crete next to the eastern part of ExxonMobil’s concession southwest of the Aegean island.
Those in the know say it is the area of particular interest for Chevron, although it is a geopolitically sensitive one, on the edge of the illegal Turkish-Libyan memorandum, and this, according to competent sources, is the reason why Chevron’s interest was limited to the Peloponnese.
The US giant, according to the same sources, is waiting for the nod from Athens, when it decides that geopolitical conditions allow it, to submit a formal expression of interest for the specific area.
From the original expression of Chevron’s interest, Kathimerini understands that the 11,000 square kilometers of the Southern Peloponnese area does not make business sense for such a company, when rival ExxonMobil was granted an area of 40,000 sq.km.
The area off Crete is the most promising based on the geological studies and seismic surveys from 2010-2011. Chevron has proceeded with a thorough study of all the seismic data it purchased since 2023.
Discussions about Chevron’s interest off Crete are expected to continue in Cairo, at the meeting that Energy Minister Thodoros Skylakakis will have on Monday with the company’s chairman, Clay Neff, on the sidelines of the Egypt Energy Show. Skylakakis held a preparatory meeting last Wednesday with the head of Chevron’s new major projects, Luca Rigo de Righi, and Jane Curtis, from corporate business development of the group. The meeting also discussed the terms of the tender notice for the concession of the Southern Peloponnese area, about to be published in the Government Gazette so that it can then be posted in the Journal of the European Union for 90 days.